{"title":"Environmental Epigenetics Update and Boards.","authors":"Michael K Skinner","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvz006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvz006","url":null,"abstract":"Environmental Epigenetics, an Oxford University Press publication, just initiated its fifth year of operations with this Volume 5 Issue 1. We are a completely Open Access journal listed in PMC and PubMed, along with numerous other access sites. Environmental Epigenetics initiated its review to obtain an impact factor this year. Two special issues are planned this year in Epigenetics, Environment and Reproduction and in Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance, both associated with corresponding scientific meetings around the world. The amount and diversity of our published studies is increasing as the field of environmental epigenetics grows and expands. We are looking forward to another productive year and encourage you to consider submissions to Environmental Epigenetics. The heart of the journal has always been the quality and breadth of the Environmental Epigenetics Editorial Boards. This Editorial is designed to extend a profound thanks to the Editorial Boards. From the beginning the Editorial Board, Consulting Editorial Board, and Editorial Review Board have provided advice and insights into the development and operations of the journal and its review process. I personally want to thank all those Editors that have acted as managing editors and reviewers. Without the dedication, experience and hard work of the Editorial Boards the journal would not exist. The current members of each of the Boards are listed below. You will see an outstanding group of dedicated and hardworking individuals that truly are the backbone of Environmental Epigenetics.","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":"5 1","pages":"dvz006"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/eep/dvz006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37258533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J Keiko McCreary, Zachary T Erickson, Eric Paxman, Douglas Kiss, Tony Montina, David M Olson, Gerlinde A S Metz
{"title":"The rat cumulative allostatic load measure (rCALM): a new translational assessment of the burden of stress.","authors":"J Keiko McCreary, Zachary T Erickson, Eric Paxman, Douglas Kiss, Tony Montina, David M Olson, Gerlinde A S Metz","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvz005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvz005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Determinants of lifetime health are complex and emphasize the need for robust predictors of disease risk. Allostatic load (AL) has become a clinical framework to estimate the cumulative biological burden associated with chronic stress. To assist knowledge translation in the developmental origins of health and disease field, clinically valid methods for reliable AL assessment in experimental models are urgently needed. Here, we introduce the rat cumulative allostatic load measure (rCALM), as a new preclinical knowledge translation tool to assess the burden of chronic stress. First, we identified an array of stress-associated physiological markers that are particularly sensitive to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation by ancestral prenatal stress. Second, we determined which of these markers are susceptible to an intervention by environmental enrichment (EE) to mitigate AL. The markers most responsive to stress and EE therapy were assembled to become operationalized in the rCALM. Third, the new rCALM was validated for the ability to indicate future disease risks. The results show that the rCALM estimates the burden of chronic stress and serves as a proxy to estimate stress resilience and vulnerability to disease. Using the rCALM we showed that enrichment therapy can offset the adverse health outcomes linked to a high AL. Thus, the rCALM provides a model for the development of new test strategies that facilitate knowledge translation in preclinical animal models.</p>","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":"5 1","pages":"dvz005"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2019-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/eep/dvz005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37220890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kezia A Addo, C. Bulka, Radhika Dhingra, Hudson P. Santos, L. Smeester, T. O’Shea, Rebecca C. Fry
{"title":"Acetaminophen use during pregnancy and DNA methylation in the placenta of the extremely low gestational age newborn (ELGAN) cohort","authors":"Kezia A Addo, C. Bulka, Radhika Dhingra, Hudson P. Santos, L. Smeester, T. O’Shea, Rebecca C. Fry","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvz010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvz010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Acetaminophen is considered the safest antipyretic and analgesic medication for pregnant women. However, studies have reported that acetaminophen has endocrine disrupting properties and prenatal exposure has been associated with early life epigenetic changes and later life health outcomes. As the placenta is the central mediator of maternal and fetal interactions, exposure to acetaminophen during pregnancy could manifest as perturbations in the placenta epigenome. Here, we evaluated epigenome-wide cytosine-guanine dinucleotide (CpG) methylation in placental tissue in relation to maternal acetaminophen use during pregnancy in a cohort of 286 newborns born prior to 28 weeks gestation. According to maternal self-report, more than half (166 of 286) of the newborns were exposed to acetaminophen in utero. After adjustment for potential confounders, a total of 42 CpGs were identified to be differentially methylated at a false discovery rate < 0.05, with most displaying increased methylation as it relates to acetaminophen exposure. A notable gene that was significantly associated with acetaminophen is the prostaglandin receptor (PTGDR) which plays an essential role in mediating placental blood flow and fetal growth. Moreover, for 6 of the 42 CpGs, associations of acetaminophen use with methylation were significantly different between male and female placentas; 3 CpG sites were associated with acetaminophen use in the male placenta and 3 different sites were associated with acetaminophen use in the female placenta (Pinteraction < 0.2). These findings highlight a relationship between maternal acetaminophen use during pregnancy and the placental epigenome and suggest that the responses for some CpG sites are sex dependent.","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2019-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/eep/dvz010","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45146576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gwen Tindula, Douglas Lee, Karen Huen, Asa Bradman, Brenda Eskenazi, Nina Holland
{"title":"Pregnancy lipidomic profiles and DNA methylation in newborns from the CHAMACOS cohort.","authors":"Gwen Tindula, Douglas Lee, Karen Huen, Asa Bradman, Brenda Eskenazi, Nina Holland","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvz004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvz004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Lipids play a role in many biological functions and the newly emerging field of lipidomics aims to characterize the varying classes of lipid molecules present in biological specimens. Animal models have shown associations between maternal dietary supplementation with fatty acids during pregnancy and epigenetic changes in their offspring, demonstrating a mechanism through which prenatal environment can affect outcomes in children; however, data on maternal lipid metabolite levels during pregnancy and newborn DNA methylation in humans are sparse. In this study, we assessed the relationship of maternal lipid metabolites measured in the blood from pregnant women with newborn DNA methylation profiles in the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas cohort. Targeted metabolomics was performed by selected reaction monitoring liquid chromatography and triple quadrupole mass spectrometry to measure 92 metabolites in plasma samples of pregnant women at ∼26 weeks gestation. DNA methylation was assessed using the Infinium HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip adjusting for cord blood cell composition. We uncovered numerous false discovery rate significant associations between maternal metabolite levels, particularly phospholipid and lysolipid metabolites, and newborn methylation. The majority of the observed relationships were negative, suggesting that higher lipid metabolites during pregnancy are associated with lower methylation levels at genes related to fetal development. These results further elucidate the complex relationship between early life exposures, maternal lipid metabolites, and infant epigenetic status.</p>","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":"5 1","pages":"dvz004"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2019-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/eep/dvz004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37130150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A Commodore, N Mukherjee, D Chung, E Svendsen, J Vena, J Pearce, J Roberts, S H Arshad, W Karmaus
{"title":"Erratum: Frequency of heavy vehicle traffic and association with DNA methylation at age 18 years in a subset of the Isle of Wight birth cohort.","authors":"A Commodore, N Mukherjee, D Chung, E Svendsen, J Vena, J Pearce, J Roberts, S H Arshad, W Karmaus","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvz003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvz003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1093/eep/dvy028.][This corrects the article DOI: 10.1093/eep/dvy028.].</p>","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":"5 1","pages":"dvz003"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2019-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/eep/dvz003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37090147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yue Wu, Brisa N Sánchez, Jaclyn M Goodrich, Dana C Dolinoy, Alejandra Cantoral, Adriana Mercado-Garcia, Edward A Ruiz-Narváez, Martha M Téllez-Rojo, Karen E Peterson
{"title":"Dietary exposures, epigenetics and pubertal tempo.","authors":"Yue Wu, Brisa N Sánchez, Jaclyn M Goodrich, Dana C Dolinoy, Alejandra Cantoral, Adriana Mercado-Garcia, Edward A Ruiz-Narváez, Martha M Téllez-Rojo, Karen E Peterson","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvz002","DOIUrl":"10.1093/eep/dvz002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gene expression changes mediated by DNA methylation may play a role in pubertal tempo regulation, and availability of methyl donor nutrients affects these pathways. We examined first trimester maternal and adolescent diet patterns that may be associated with DNA methylation at long interspersed nucleotide (LINE-1) repetitive elements in adolescence using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and calculated an 'Epigenetics-Associated Diet Score' (EADS) for each pattern; then tested the associations of these scores with pubertal tempo among adolescent boys and girls. The analytic sample included 118 boys and 132 girls aged 10-18 years. DNA methylation at LINE-1 repetitive elements was quantified. Typical maternal and adolescent nutrient intakes were estimated using food frequency questionnaires. Interval-censored time to event and ordinal regression models were used to examine associations EADS scores with pubertal tempo using physician-assessed Tanner stages and self-reported menarche, respectively, adjusted for confounders. We observed associations between maternal EADS and pubertal onset, but not pubertal progression. Each standard deviation (SD) greater maternal EADS was associated with 52% higher odds of having later onset of menarche in both cross-sectional and prospective analysis (<i>P</i> = 0.031 and 0.028, respectively). In contrast, we observed associations between adolescent EADS and pubertal progression, but not pubertal onset. Among boys, for each SD higher adolescent EADS, there was 13% increase in odds of slower genital progression (<i>P</i> = 0.050), as well as 26 and 27% increase in odds of slower left and right testicular development, respectively (<i>P</i> = 0.001). Epigenetic-associated diet influences pubertal tempo in a sex- and timing-specific manner.</p>","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":"5 1","pages":"dvz002"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2019-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/67/84/dvz002.PMC6404688.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37048168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Meeting Announcement: 2nd Symposium 'Epigenetic Inheritance: Impact for Biology and Society' 26-28 August 2019, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.","authors":"Isabelle M Mansuy","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvz001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvz001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":"4 4","pages":"dvz001"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2019-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/eep/dvz001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36975973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A Commodore, N Mukherjee, D Chung, E Svendsen, J Vena, J Pearce, J Roberts, S H Arshad, W Karmaus
{"title":"Frequency of heavy vehicle traffic and association with DNA methylation at age 18 years in a subset of the Isle of Wight birth cohort.","authors":"A Commodore, N Mukherjee, D Chung, E Svendsen, J Vena, J Pearce, J Roberts, S H Arshad, W Karmaus","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvy028","DOIUrl":"10.1093/eep/dvy028","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Assessment of changes in DNA methylation (DNA-m) has the potential to identify adverse environmental exposures. To examine DNA-m among a subset of participants (<i>n</i> = 369) in the Isle of Wight birth cohort who reported variable near resident traffic frequencies. We used self-reported frequencies of heavy vehicles passing by the homes of study subjects as a proxy measure for TRAP, which were: never, seldom, 10 per day, 1-9 per hour and >10 per hour. Methylation of cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) dinucleotide sequences in the DNA was assessed from blood samples collected at age 18 years (<i>n</i> = 369) in the F1 generation. We conducted an epigenome wide association study to examine CpGs related to the frequency of heavy vehicles passing by subjects' homes, and employed multiple linear regression models to assess potential associations. We repeated some of these analysis in the F2 generation (<i>n</i> = 140). Thirty-five CpG sites were associated with heavy vehicular traffic. After adjusting for confounders, we found 23 CpGs that were more methylated, and 11 CpGs that were less methylated with increasing heavy vehicular traffic frequency among all subjects. In the F2 generation, 2 of 31 CpGs were associated with traffic frequencies and the direction of the effect was the same as in the F1 subset while differential methylation of 7 of 31 CpG sites correlated with gene expression. Our findings reveal differences in DNA-m in participants who reported higher heavy vehicular traffic frequencies when compared to participants who reported lower frequencies.</p>","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":"4 4","pages":"dvy028"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2019-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6343046/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36910466","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eleanor J Su-Keene, Melvin M Bonilla, Michael V Padua, David W Zeh, Jeanne A Zeh
{"title":"Simulated climate warming and mitochondrial haplogroup modulate testicular small non-coding RNA expression in the neotropical pseudoscorpion, <i>Cordylochernes scorpioides</i>.","authors":"Eleanor J Su-Keene, Melvin M Bonilla, Michael V Padua, David W Zeh, Jeanne A Zeh","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvy027","DOIUrl":"10.1093/eep/dvy027","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent theory suggests that tropical terrestrial arthropods are at significant risk from climate warming. Metabolic rate in such ectothermic species increases exponentially with environmental temperature, and a small temperature increase in a hot environment can therefore have a greater physiological impact than a large temperature increase in a cool environment. In two recent studies of the neotropical pseudoscorpion, <i>Cordylochernes scorpioides</i>, simulated climate warming significantly decreased survival, body size and level of sexual dimorphism. However, these effects were minor compared with catastrophic consequences for male fertility and female fecundity, identifying reproduction as the life stage most vulnerable to climate warming. Here, we examine the effects of chronic high-temperature exposure on epigenetic regulation in <i>C. scorpioides</i> in the context of naturally occurring variation in mitochondrial DNA. Epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, histone modifications and small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) expression, are particularly sensitive to environmental factors such as temperature, which can induce changes in epigenetic states and phenotypes that may be heritable across generations. Our results indicate that exposure of male pseudoscorpions to elevated temperature significantly altered the expression of >60 sncRNAs in testicular tissue, specifically microRNAs and piwi-interacting RNAs. Mitochondrial haplogroup was also a significant factor influencing both sncRNAs and mitochondrial gene expression. These findings demonstrate that chronic heat stress causes changes in epigenetic profiles that may account for reproductive dysfunction in <i>C. scorpioides</i> males. Moreover, through its effects on epigenetic regulation, mitochondrial DNA polymorphism may provide the potential for an adaptive evolutionary response to climate warming.</p>","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":"4 4","pages":"dvy027"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2018-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/eep/dvy027","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36812425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Adele M H Seelke, Jessica M Bond, Trent C Simmons, Nikhil Joshi, Matthew L Settles, Danielle Stolzenberg, Mijke Rhemtulla, Karen L Bales
{"title":"Fatherhood alters gene expression within the MPOA.","authors":"Adele M H Seelke, Jessica M Bond, Trent C Simmons, Nikhil Joshi, Matthew L Settles, Danielle Stolzenberg, Mijke Rhemtulla, Karen L Bales","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvy026","DOIUrl":"10.1093/eep/dvy026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Female parenting is obligate in mammals, but fathering behavior among mammals is rare. Only 3-5% of mammalian species exhibit biparental care, including humans, and mechanisms of fathering behavior remain sparsely studied. However, in species where it does exist, paternal care is often crucial to the survivorship of offspring. The present study is the first to identify new gene targets linked to the experience of fathering behavior in a biparental species using RNA sequencing. In order to determine the pattern of gene expression within the medial preoptic area that is specifically associated with fathering behavior, we identified genes in male prairie voles (<i>Microtus ochrogaster)</i> that experienced one of three social conditions: virgin males, pair bonded males, and males with fathering experience. A list of genes exhibiting different expression patterns in each comparison (i.e. Virgin vs Paired, Virgin vs Fathers, and Paired vs Fathers) was evaluated using the gene ontology enrichment analysis, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways analysis to reveal metabolic pathways associated with specific genes. Using these tools, we generated a filtered list of genes that exhibited altered patterns of expression in voles with different amounts of social experience. Finally, we used NanoString to quantify differences in the expression of these selected genes. These genes are involved in a variety of processes, with enrichment in genes associated with immune function, metabolism, synaptic plasticity, and the remodeling of dendritic spines. The identification of these genes and processes will lead to novel insights into the biological basis of fathering behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":"4 4","pages":"dvy026"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2018-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6305489/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36842111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}